Going Straight

Good morning, my friends. It's a stay-at-home day for me. Our window washer guy was supposed to be here, but he had a family emergency. It seems to be a week for canceled appointments for family emergencies. It's really fine with me though. I'm needing a quiet day without visitors. It's not quite as bad as going out in public, but it does put a crimp in my routine. Scott, the window washer, has been washing our windows for around 35 years. He did the windows at our previous home, and now he keeps the windows clean here at the Three Cats Ranch. He seems like family, but I still try to stay out of his way while he's here. He'll be here next week, and I'll enjoy not having a visitor today.

There was just a little time to spend on my slow-stitching yesterday morning. I took the first stitches on Block 5 of Grandpa's Bridges.

This will be a good project to take along on the short trip we have planned for Moab this coming fall. All the blocks are printed on Sticky Fabri-Solvy, and so I won't need to drag a lot of equipment along to continue on my merry stitching way.

So I headed into town, got my hair cut, and then I stopped off at one of the specialty markets. I was still on the hunt for some champagne vinegar...found it. While I was there, I picked up some apples. I really love apples, and I usually eat one every day. Recently I learned the flavenols in apples can help prevent frailty in old age. And, hey...I'm not one to deny my age. I'm just glad I already like apples, and eat them regularly. Also, I got a couple of plums and some gorgonzola cheese. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I want to try a recipe for Black Rice Salad with Cherries and Plums. It sounds interesting, and it was one of the things I wanted to try with the cherries we picked recently. 

When I got home, I had a good long nap, and then I got back to my quilting. I'm just quilting line after line after line until I have the whole thing finished. Reaching a good stopping place, I took the quilt off the machine to have a look. I'm going to guesstimate that I have it about 40% finished now.

 It's a little hard to see the quilting on the back with those dark fabrics, but here's a peek.

It's a large quilt, filling in the space between the walls of our upstairs dormer.

I like the look of a straight line diagonal grid on these kinds of quilts set in a checkerboard style. Usually, I'm working on smaller quilts when I do this. Having the lines extend such a long distance makes this a little tedious to work on, but I'll just keep on keeping on until it's finished.

Okay, and there was still time left in the day. When I've finished with the quilting, I'm going to start sewing together the quilt top for A Joyful Journey. As a reminder, here are all the blocks I have for this quilt.

The patterns were a gift from one of my friends, although I've forgotten who. If it was you, then thank you. I enjoyed stitching this one. There are some free assembly directions online, and I printed them out some time ago. I might have tried something different, but I like this setting.

So I looked at the fabric requirements and then perused my stash for things I could use. I pulled these fabrics. The light one on the right will work for the star cornerstones. The leaf print will work as the medium brown. The lighter brown, second from the left will work for the dark stop border. It looks as if there are borders around the blocks too. The one on the left will work as a binding.

And then I went in search of a fabric I could use as a backing. I used this fabric to back a different quilt, but I still have a skosh over two yards in addition to a large cut-off piece. I kind of like this one, given the name of the quilt, "A Joyful Journey." It made me think of the barns I watch for when we're traveling.

As an alternative, I have nearly three yards of the one below. The pattern calls for three yards, and so this one might be large enough to get the job done. I like the colors. If need be, I have a green that I can use to piece one or the other of these choices to make a larger back.

As I was selecting fabrics, Sadie came in to give me some more instruction on organizing my projects. She doesn't understand why I don't make better use of the floor.

Upstairs, Smitty had the do not disturb sign out.

And who can blame him when he's been so busy outside digging for gophers.

We've had a dinner planned with Erik and Mae for several weeks. Last night we met them at the local Amaterra Winery. We attended an event there this past Christmas, and it was very nice. They have a beautiful tasting room. If you click on that link I've given you, you can see the place. Erik has wanted to have dinner on their patio ever since he first saw the place. It was too cold to be out there in December, but we scheduled a late dinner for last night. Late because we wanted the sun to be low in the sky and avoid the heat of the day. This was the view from our table. See that mound far off in the distance near the middle of the image? That's our hill.

It was a very nice dinner with good food served up family style and good wines, of course. We enjoyed our evening with them, as always.

Okay, so I have some work to do in the kitchen making my black rice salad. (Probably I should check my supply of black rice before I get too far along.) Also, I'm going to make a cherry galette today. That should pretty well take care of the rest of the cherries. If there are some left, I'll try making some cherry vinegar. 

It's time again to water the annuals and feed the birds. Also, I'll be reading through Lesson 11 of 12 for my online Photoshop Elements class. When all of that is finished, I'll get back to my quilting. Sometime soon, I'll get busy sandwiching that stack of finished quilt tops that sits mocking me in my sewing room. Mike is doing some work in the garage, and so I've been waiting for him to finish what he's doing, and I'm waiting for the weather to cool off some. Eventually, the conditions will be perfect, and I can finish that dreadful job. It's my least favorite part of quilting, but it's a happy day when they're all sandwiched and ready to go...like having a full tank of gas...or like reading page one of a good book. When it comes to sandwiching quilts, it's the destination, not the journey.

Okay, my friends. It's time to get on with my day. Don't forget to head over to my giveaway post and leave a comment there. Today is the last day. I'll announce the winner in tomorrow's post.